


When We (Shouldn't) Meet Again

by arkylarn



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:14:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24301936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arkylarn/pseuds/arkylarn
Summary: Of course Yaz, Ryan, and Graham knew that they weren't the Doctor's only friends. But they never expected people from the Doctor's past to show up in the TARDIS, completely unaware not only of how they got there, but also of who the Doctor really was (they kept calling him an old man, which the Doctor was anything but). The girl with them panics the whole ship, talking about crossing time streams and paradoxes -- and the Doctor seems to agree with her prophesying: just having her old friends on board could result in the end of time and everything else.
Relationships: Ian Chesterton/Barbara Wright, Thirteenth Doctor & Susan Foreman, Thirteenth Doctor/Yasmin Khan
Comments: 8
Kudos: 103





	1. Chapter 1

“There’s no way. There’s no way!” Yaz squealed, but Ryan just shrugged. “Really? Are you sure?”

“I saw it, too,” Graham smiled. They were all sitting on the stairs, and he had to lean forward to be visible from behind his grandson. “So I think we might be here a while.”

Shaking her head, all Yaz could do was laugh. It had been time for them to leave the planet and move on, and Yaz, Ryan, and Graham had returned to the TARDIS. But before the Doctor could join them, she was asked to stay for a few minutes -- so the aliens could crown her as a princess! It was all ceremonial, of course, but apparently the Doctor could not get out of doing it.

Yaz and Graham talked back and forth for a while before Ryan got their attention. “Uh…” he mumbled, indicating across the room. “Who are they?”

The man and two women (or, rather, one woman and one girl) who Ryan pointed out seemed much more confused and worried than the other three. Huddled close together, the girl clung to the older woman, and the man naturally had his hands on either side of them protectively.

“Where are we, Ian? What happened?” the woman asked, though she also had the fears of the girl to deal with. Soothingly, she rubbed her back, but it was obvious that the girl, who appeared to be around sixteen years old, was panicking. “It’s alright. We’re all alright, aren’t we, Susan?”

“No!” Susan tearfully protested. “Where’s Grandfather?”

Obviously, the other two had not considered her grandfather. Ian turned and looked around, though by then Yaz, Ryan, and Graham had moved to hide behind a barrier and peek out. They did not know these people, after all, and could not imagine why they would be in the TARDIS.

“Where are we?” Ian asked, repeating the woman’s earlier question. Spinning on his heels, he gestured over to the control console. “This looks like the TARDIS, does it not?”

The woman looked around with a raised brow, then scowled as she faced the man again. “It’s not the TARDIS. It looks nothing like it.”

“Not exactly. But the general shape, Barbara. Look at that, it looks like the controls that the Doctor’s always messing with. And, well, it sort of looks like the walls, if they were hexagons instead of circles.” Barbara had to concede with that. “Susan will know.” He walked over and put a hand on the girl’s shoulder, but she had her face buried against Barbara.

“Who are these people?” Yaz whispered, finally tearing her eyes away from the scene as the man tried to convince the girl that everything was okay.

“Barbara, Ian, and Susan,” Ryan answered, “That’s what I heard, anyway.”

“Yeah, but why are they in the TARDIS?”

“They seem to know what it is…” Graham replied this time, “But  _ how  _ did they get in? I didn’t see anyone come in after us, and the doors were closed.”

“Just look and tell us if this is the TARDIS or not.” At least Ian had managed to pull Susan away from Barbara, but she only looked into his eyes and nowhere else. “Can the Doctor change how the TARDIS looks?”

Sniffling, Susan nodded. “Yes, there are ways to change it, but Grandfather wouldn’t do that. He liked how it looked before, and he doesn’t like change.” Suddenly, she grabbed the man’s forearms and leaned forward. “Can’t you see it’s all wrong?” she asked desperately as she looked between Ian and Barbara, but obviously neither of them understood what she was on about. “You can’t feel it.” She shook her head and looked back at Ian. “I can’t feel it.”

“Can’t feel what, Susan?” Barbara asked, gingerly reaching out to her.

“The TARDIS. I should be able to feel her, in my mind.” That sobered her up for a moment, and she stared blankly ahead as she thought. Barbara and Ian were always uncomfortable when she did that -- went from one extreme to another, rather like her grandfather. “This isn’t right.” She snapped out of the trance and got very close to Barbara again, nestling against her. “There are people in here.”

In surprise, Ian turned and looked around wildly, though it was several moments before he noticed a grey-haired man pop up from a hidden spot behind some railing. Yaz and Ryan tugged at Graham’s sleeve to try to stop him, but it was too late.

“... Hello,” Graham said after several moments of awkward silence.

“Who are you?” Ian demanded, though he did not move towards him, instead positioning himself in a way that made it hard for Graham to see the two girls behind him. “What are you doing here?”

“I should be asking you that.”

Ian wanted to appear angry, but he was obviously still trying to work everything out in his head. Tearing his attention away from Graham, Ian looked back at Susan. “You said  _ people _ .”

“Yes,” Susan nodded without looking up, “Three of them.”

Turning back, Ian quickly discovered that Susan was right. Now, beside the older man, stood a younger one and a woman. The woman waved nervously and all Ian could do was stare.

“Yaz,” the woman said, pointing to herself. Indicating the man next to her, she said, “Ryan,” and then, “Graham.” Moving around the place they had been hiding, she carefully approached the group, Graham and Ryan trailing behind her. “Ian, Barbara, and Susan, right?” Barbara nodded. “We don’t mean you any harm -- we just want to know what you’re doing here.”

“We’d like to know that, too,” Barbara said. Yaz noticed that Ian looked a little annoyed -- he was obviously protective of her, and probably preferred to be the one who was asking the questions. But Barbara was just as capable as Ian, and she was acting defensively, too. While Ian focused on being a wall between the ladies and the strangers, Barbara held Susan close, making sure that she, specifically, was taken care of.

“How did you get in?” Ryan asked softly. Everybody was on edge, but, so far, it did not seem like anybody had any intentions of hurting anyone else.

Ian hesitated, still not convinced that he should be talking to them, but eventually relented. “I’m not sure,” he admitted, “We just sort of… appeared.” He took a moment to think. “We were just in the TARDIS… weren’t we, Barbara?”

Before Barbara could reply in the affirmative, Susan spoke, though she did not look at anybody. “We’re still in the TARDIS.”

“A TARDIS, maybe,” Ian allowed, “But, like you said, the Doctor wouldn’t just go about changing it. Not to this. It’s too… loud.”

“Is it possible that there’s any other… any of your people that would have one, too?”

Susan shook her head, but did not say anything. Barbara held her away a little bit and forced her to look her in the eyes. “Do you know something, Susan?” Susan shook her head again, but Barbara could tell that she was lying.

“You keep saying ‘Doctor,’” Yaz noted.

“Yes,” Ian nodded, “About yea high, long white hair, likely to lecture you.” When it was obvious that they had no idea who he was talking about, he grumbled, “Oh, he probably messed up one thing or another and got us transported here!” He threw up his hands in defeat.

“Well… we know  _ a  _ Doctor,” Graham said, “Doesn’t sound like the same one, but this is her ship.”

Barbara shook her head. “No, the Doctor is an old man.”

“Not necessarily,” Susan said. She barely thought as she said it, and she was obviously surprised when, after a moment of silence, she looked up to find all eyes on her. “This isn’t right,” she mumbled and shook her head. It was obviously not the answer that Ian or Barbara wanted, but they could not do anything besides exchange looks as Susan tore away from Barbara and made her way to the control console. “We shouldn’t be here.” It was another sudden change of mood, and Susan stared ahead yet was not actually focused on anything in the room. She held up her hand and wiggled her fingers, though there seemed to be some sort of method to it, like she was pointing out things that were invisible to the rest of the people in the room.

“Is she alright?” Graham asked.

After a moment of staring at her, Ian shook his head and made his way to the three, Barbara following close behind. He had obviously determined that they weren’t a threat as he did not approach them with any malice, though he and Barbara still stood a few feet away.

“Yes, she’s…” Ian rubbed his forehead. The whole situation was stressful.

“She’s worried,” Barbara finished, “She doesn’t like being away from the Doctor.”

The group accepted this, though worried glances were still cast at Susan every once in a while. “You travel with the Doctor in the TARDIS?” Yaz asked.

Ian nodded. “Yes, but it looks nothing like this.”

“We travel with the Doctor,” Ryan said, “And this is the TARDIS.”

The man furrowed his brows and tried to figure out what it could all mean. “Maybe it’s like an… alternate dimension,” Barbara suggested, stiffening when Ian turned to her in confusion. “Like, in our world the Doctor is an old man, but here he’s a… woman, one who likes all this yellow and blue. I mean, knowing the Doctor and the TARDIS, it hardly seems impossible.”

Ian was incredulous. “So you’re saying what, exactly? Are these people an alternate version of us?”

“I don’t think so, mate,” Ryan said.

“I’m just saying that this certainly seems like the TARDIS, even if it’s different. And they know a Doctor, even if it’s not ours.”

“Well, Susan ought to know something about it. Why isn’t she saying anything?”

“The Doctor does that,” Graham pointed out, “Gets into her own little world sometimes.”

“Gets it from somewhere, I guess,” Barbara sighed, “So where is the Doctor? Your Doctor, anyway? He’d never just leave us alone if he could help it.”

“Too scared we’d play with all the controls and mess something up,” Ian chuckled.

“As if he actually knows what any of them do.”

“She just stepped out,” Ryan answered, “Well, got distracted, anyway. Should be back in a second.”

“We’ll go look for her,” Yaz nodded and took Ryan’s arm. They were about to press out the doors when they suddenly swung open, Susan having absentmindedly flicked a switch. “Er, thanks,” Yaz smiled, and she and Ryan exited the machine. The doors quickly swung shut behind them, and there was a little click as it locked.

“We can’t let them back in,” Susan said suddenly, turning to the remaining three, “Not with the Doctor.”

Ian shook his head. “What are you on about, Susan?”

“This isn’t right. We can’t be here.” She was speaking quickly, a million thoughts racing through her head. She stepped toward them. “We have to get out of here.”

“Well, obviously, but how do you suggest we do that?” Barbara rather sounded more like a teacher than a friend at the moment.

“It’s all wrong!” Susan shouted, and her eyes began to fill with tears. “It’s all wrong! It’s- It’s illegal to be here.” Those tears began to roll down her cheeks. “It hurts, Barbara. My head.”

Barbara held Susan, but was obviously confused as to the reason Susan was upset, though the other two were no more sure of what was going on than she was.

“Um, was she serious about not letting them back in?” Graham asked, “Because that’s my grandson, so…”

Outside, Yaz and Ryan retraced their steps toward the castle. The TARDIS had parked itself on a winding dirt road, and though the land was flat, the building was difficult to spot because of how far away it was and how all the sand shielded it from their view. It would be a long journey to get there, and this time the Taminans were not giving them a ride in their runabout.

Luckily, the Doctor was heading toward the TARDIS, and was not very far from it when Yaz and Ryan started their search for her. On her head she wore a little crown, and pink silk was draped over her shoulders. She waved to her friends with three fingers, which is how the Taminans had been saluting them earlier.

“Ryan! Yaz! I thought I told you to stay in the TARDIS,” she called out, though she did not sound upset at all. “What’s wrong?”

“Some people got into the TARDIS,” Ryan said, and they all started hurrying back to the blue box.

“How?” The Doctor ripped off the shawl and crown, leaving them on the ground outside the machine. Whoever came across them would be a rich man.

“Don’t know,” Yaz shrugged, “Just appeared. They’re acting like they know you, but… a different you.”

The Doctor considered this. She tried the door but it was locked. As she fished a key out of her pocket, she asked, “Did they tell you who they were?”

“Yeah. They’re calling themselves Barbara, Ian, and, er-”

“Susan,” Ryan chimed in and Yaz nodded.

Two hands hooked around the Doctor’s arm just as she was about to pull away. “No,” Yaz chided, holding firm, “You’re not about to just walk away without explaining what’s going on. Who are they?”

The Doctor freed her arm from Yaz’s grasp, but did not walk away. “I just need to think,” she said, running a hand through her hair.

“You know them?” Ryan asked, though it was really more of a statement.

When Yaz grabbed the Doctor’s arm this time it was gentler. “Who are they?” She could tell from the Doctor’s face that she knew the names; there was no denying it. “They know the TARDIS, Doctor.”

“They’re… friends,” the Doctor allowed, “From a very long time ago. They shouldn’t be here.” Finally, she found the key, but hesitated to use it.

Susan knew that her locking the doors wouldn’t really do anything. Of course the Doctor had a key -- it was only to buy them a little more time. “We have to get out of here!” she repeated, tugging on Barbara’s sleeve. They could hear the lock being disengaged, which only heightened Susan’s panic.

“Tell us what’s wrong, Susan,” Barbara said.

“Use your words,” Ian scolded.

“Is she always this cryptic?” Graham mused, though he knew that he was not truly part of the conversation.

“It’s just… wrong. We can’t be here. It will mess everything up. Everything. Time, space, the universe. There’s rules against these sorts of things. You have to stay parallel with the streams or else it will all just-” Susan clasped her hands together, indicating some sort of implosion. “Don’t you see? We can’t be here.”

Nobody actually understood what she meant, but there was no time to voice that as the door opened. In stepped Yaz and Ryan, followed by the Doctor. She did not move much past the door, instead staring at the newcomers -- everyone, in turn, stared at her.

“Ian…” she whispered, “Barbara…”

Ian raised his brows and Barbara could not help but laugh. It was all too ridiculous -- there was no way this was the Doctor, or even someone related to him. The woman was too bright. She had blonde hair and a rainbow shirt and big pants and it all had to be one big misunderstanding. Maybe where the Doctor and Susan came from, ‘Doctor’ was a common name. Maybe, out of the two of them, Susan was the one who should be questioned when she introduced herself.

Susan… That was where the Doctor’s eyes were focused. The girl was hidden by Barbara, but she eventually let herself be seen.

“This is wrong. You can feel it.” Susan was addressing the Doctor, though she did not make eye contact. After a moment she tightly shut her eyes. “The time streams are overlapping -- touching in a place they never should have crossed.”

“Just because it isn’t meant to happen doesn’t mean it can’t,” the Doctor replied. She sounded desperate, her eyes pleading. As she addressed Susan, it was like there was nobody else in the room but them two. “Doesn’t mean you and I can’t be here, right now, together.”

“I can see inside your head.” Of course she could. The Doctor could put up as many walls as she felt she needed, but she couldn’t shield her mind from somebody so telepathically gifted. Not from her own granddaughter. “You know this isn’t supposed to happen. You know. I can see myself. My future self. I shouldn’t see that. I don’t want to!”

The Doctor stepped forward, but Susan grabbed Barbara and pulled her away, almost using her friend to shield herself. Ian threw out his arms, persuading the Doctor not to go any closer.

“This is a paradox,” Susan said. “This is a paradox!” she screamed.

And a paradox it was. Too early and too late. Susan should not be here. Not while she was travelling with… him. The first version of the Doctor. Time Lords weren’t meant to cross streams like this -- it broke every law in existence, and Susan, more so than the Doctor, was feeling the consequences of that infringement.

“Susan!” Barbara shouted as the girl crumbled to the floor, unconscious. “What have you done to her?” She did not actually care to hear the Doctor’s response, instead focusing on trying to wake her.

“What’s going on?” Yaz asked, momentarily snapping the Doctor out of her stunned staring. “Is she alright?”

“It’s attacking her brain. It’s too much. I can handle it, but she feels it so much stronger than I do.” She looked at Yaz. “She’s right. We can’t both be here. Not like this.”

“Yeah, but who is she?”

“Is she one of your people, Doctor?” Graham asked.

“You could say that.” She looked back over at Susan and Barbara; Ian was quickly and quietly looking around the ship. “She’s my granddaughter.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Granddaughter?” Graham was the first to ask the question that was on everybody’s minds. In the medical bay, Ian and Barbara stood next to Susan’s bed, talking to each other in hushed voices, while the Doctor, Yaz, Ryan, and Graham stood across the room, observing. “I mean, I get that you’re not human, but…” He shook his head, deciding to drop it. “I just didn’t realize you had a granddaughter is all.”

The Doctor was focused intently on Susan, lips pressed tight together as she stared. Nobody would be surprised if she did not hear Graham speaking right beside her, but, after a moment, she replied. “We ran away together, from Gallifrey. She’s the one who chose this TARDIS -- named it. We were just calling it ‘the Box’ for a while.” Normally she would have chuckled at that, but she didn’t. She did not look away from Susan as she spoke.

“I thought you said…” Yaz shifted uncomfortably and chose her words very carefully. “I thought you said there’s none of your people left. Well, except the Master.”

This got the Doctor’s attention. Finally pulling her eyes off the unconscious Gallifreyan, the Doctor faced her friends. “There aren’t,” she answered, speaking quickly to avoid allowing any feelings of sadness to reveal themselves, “This is from before… all that. We were travelling together, all of us.” She indicated to Barbara and Ian, who were now bent over Susan, blocking the view of the girl. “They followed Susan into the TARDIS one day, and we were off.” She looked almost embarrassed as she added, “I was a little grumpier back then. Kept saying I would bring them back home before whisking them off into danger.”

“Susan!” Attention was turned away from the conversation when Barbara let out a startled cry. Susan had grabbed her roughly, fingers digging into her shoulder and chest painfully. Barbara struggled and Ian tried to help her, but Susan was obviously very out of it, and did not listen to their pleas. “Let g- ow! What are you saying? What, Susan?”

As the Doctor, Yaz, Ryan, and Graham rounded the bed, they heard Susan’s incoherent muttering. Her eyes were only half-open and glossed over, like someone who was woken up suddenly and thus basically still sleeping.

“Go! We have to go!” From the way she was holding Barbara, it appeared that she was begging her to do as she said. “Have to… run!” In between coherent words was a bunch of gibberish. She rolled her head back and forth, and when Ian finally managed to get her off of Barbara, she groped the air desperately. “Gallifrey’s gone…” Tears streamed down her cheeks as she continued to shout.

The Doctor hesitated. She stood behind Ian, not daring to get any closer. She didn’t want to get any closer. She couldn’t. Like Susan said earlier -- them being here together was a paradox; anything she did could risk tearing the very fabric of reality apart.

But her granddaughter was in pain. A stirring in her chest -- a feeling she thought she had long forgotten -- urged her forward. Before Ian could stop her, the Doctor climbed onto the bed with Susan.

“No!” Susan screamed, her head turned towards the Doctor, “No! No, it’ll- break-” Ian lunged forward and tried to pull the Doctor away from Susan, but the Doctor wordlessly kicked him away. “No, get off! You destroyed it! You killed them!” The Doctor grabbed Susan by the arms and lifted her up a little. “No! No!” But, despite struggling, there was not much that Susan could do as the Doctor pulled her onto her lap. One leg up while the other was bent underneath Susan to support her back, the Doctor held her head close to her chest. Barbara watched on fearfully, both her and Ian clearly worried that whatever the Doctor was doing would hurt Susan, but as the man went to try to pull her off again, Ryan stood in his way.

“It’s alright,” the Doctor cooed, petting the girl’s hair. Although she had been trying to fight the Doctor off only a few seconds prior, Susan relaxed and settled against the Doctor quickly. Once again, it was as if the Doctor and Susan were the only two people in the room -- the Doctor whispered to her and twirled her hair around her finger and held her tight. Seeing the softness with which the Doctor treated the girl, Ian stopped trying to get around Ryan, instead just watching like everyone else. “Do you remember the story of the Bird Man?”

“No,” Susan lied. She spoke clearly now, her eyes closed as she rested in the Doctor’s arms.

As the Doctor started to share the tale, Yaz, Ryan, and Graham slowly exited the room, realizing that the Doctor should have some time alone with her granddaughter. Ian, after several moments of watching the pair and making sure that Susan was alright, grabbed Barbara’s hand and started to guide her out after the strangers, but she hesitated. “She’ll be alright,” Ian reassured quietly, holding Barbara around the waist. She finally tore her attention away from Susan and the Doctor and instead faced Ian. “We’ll be right outside if anything happens.”

_ A long time ago, in a cave somewhere in the foothills of Gallifrey’s Drylands, lived the Bird Man. Ostracized from Gallifreyan society since being accidentally created, the Bird Man lived as a hermit. He hated visitors, and always stayed in his cave where it was rare for people to wander in. _

“Right,” Ryan started. The two groups stood together in a circle outside the medical bay’s entrance. “Anybody got any idea what’s going on?”

Yaz shook her head. “The Doctor’s not being much help -- if she’d just explain..!”

“That’s her granddaughter,” Graham reminded them, “You can’t blame her for being a little distracted.” He shot a knowing look at Ryan, trying to imagine how he would feel seeing him if they were separated for as long as he imagines the Doctor and Susan to have been.

“I just don’t understand!” Barbara blurted out, then pinched the top of her nose. “How is it possible that she’s the Doctor? She can’t be Susan’s grandfather -- or grandmother, or anything else. We’ve never met this woman in our lives, yet Susan seems to know her.”

Nobody had an answer for her.

_ It was said that if you killed the Bird Man, all your wildest dreams would come true. People sought him out, intending on making themselves rich or powerful. But they never gave him enough credit -- those adventurers who managed to come across his lonely cavern did not live to tell the tale. _

“What’s the last thing you remember before you showed up in the TARDIS?” Graham asked. If the Doctor couldn’t help them piece together what was going on, they would have to do so themselves.

“We were in the console room,” Ian explained, looking to Barbara for confirmation as he spoke, “The Doctor was messing around with the controls like usual, and Susan was checking the readouts for some system.”

“She said that there was a problem,” Barbara interjected, “She said that the- Ooh, I can’t remember the name, but she said it was too high.”

“Yes… Yes!” Ian smiled as he remembered, “Something about the Time Vortex… And then it felt like the TARDIS hit something and then-”

“And then we were here.”

_ One day a little girl showed up at the Bird Man’s cave. She was young -- around the age that kids looked into the Untempered Schism. The Bird Man planned on killing her like everyone else, but it soon became apparent that she was simply lost. What’s more, instead of finding his appearance frightening, she thought it silly. His frail body was sparsely covered with feathers and he had a long beak -- he was so different from the Gallifreyans -- yet she was not afraid. She wanted to be his friend, and he decided not to kill her. _

Yaz tried to remember all the technobabble that the Doctor spluttered out on a daily basis. She never really understood any of it, but she supposed she should have been paying better attention now that she needed a basic understanding of how the TARDIS worked.

“The Time Vortex… That’s what the TARDIS travels in, yeah?” she started slowly, looking at the floor as she thought. “What if, for just a moment, your Doctor’s TARDIS, and our Doctor’s TARDIS occupied the same exact space? Their paths crossed. Two different times touching where they weren’t meant to,” she finished, paraphrasing Susan’s earlier hysterical statement.

Barbara and Ian considered it, though they didn’t really understand. They didn’t really need to understand -- they just knew that they had to get back to the Doctor and the TARDIS.  _ Their  _ Doctor and TARDIS.

“How can that woman be the Doctor?” Barbara finally repeated. She glanced into the medical bay where the Doctor was still cradling Susan and talking to her in a gentle tone.

“You heard what Susan said,” Graham replied, “How the Doctor wasn’t necessarily the person you know. I mean, we don’t really know much about her at all -- maybe she can swap out her face when she gets bored!”

“Hah!” Ian laughed, and suddenly the atmosphere became much lighter, “Sometimes I wish he would do that with us. He’s always using the ‘old man’ defense to get out of doing stuff.” He glanced back at the Doctor and Susan, then put his arm around Barbara again. “It looks like they’re fine. Why don’t we go back to the console room? We can all relax and figure this out…”

_ The girl often visited the Bird Man, bringing him gifts she made, singing him songs, and telling him stories she created. The Bird Man grew very fond of the child, so, when one day she begged him to go down to the city with her, he obliged. He was fearful of the other Gallifreyans and what they would do to him, but she convinced him that it was safe so long as she was with him. Together they made their way through the Drylands and to the city, where they were met with a mob. _

“Here.” Ryan passed out the cups and poured the tea that he and Yaz had prepared. Together the group sat on the steps across from the control console. Graham and Ian told each other stories about their travels with the Doctor, while Yaz and Ryan tried to figure out more about the pair. When Barbara told them that she and Ian were from 1963, Yaz couldn’t help but laugh. “Really? Like, that’s when you were living when you started travelling with the Doctor?” Barbara was equally as fascinated by their own backstories.

Through the chattering, the voice from the monitor was almost missed. “Hello… Hello? Chassington? Miss Wright? Hello?” The Doctor tapped on the screen, which is when Ian, Barbara, and their new friends finally ran into view.

Even though Barbara and Ian had described the Doctor, Yaz, Ryan, and Graham were still shocked at how different he looked from the Doctor that they knew. He had a long nose, bright white hair that fell to his shoulders, and he seemed to be the type of person who was irritated with everything no matter what.  _ He probably calls kids ‘hooligans’ and yells at them for stepping on his lawn _ , Yaz thought amusedly, but neither she nor her friends spoke. However, Ian and Barbara seemed overjoyed at the image presented to them.

“Doctor!” Ian said, waving, “Yes, Doctor, we’re here. Me and Barbara.”

The Doctor squinted. “And who are these other people with you, hmm?”

Ian rubbed his arm and shrugged, not sure how to explain. Luckily, the Doctor did not give him much of a chance to.

“You’re in the TARDIS, yes…” he said, though it seemed to be more to himself than to his companions, “Yes, I suspected as much.”

“Could you tell us what’s going on, please, Doctor,” Barbara asked, “We’re in the TARDIS with someone called the Doctor, but it’s not you.”

The Doctor furrowed his brows. “Is it that tall gent with the pinstripe suit?” He tilted his head. “Not the sort of interior design I suspected from him!”

“No, it’s, uh, a woman.”

The Doctor nodded. He did not seem surprised at all, which was rather shocking to Ian and Barbara. “I don’t believe I know her -- must be very far along indeed!”

_ “We must kill the Bird Man!” one of the men cried. “He has taken this child!” another claimed. But the girl screamed and fought. “No! No! He’s not evil! He’s my friend! Why do you wish to hurt him?” They told her that it was bad that he was different, and that, because she was his friend, she was no better than him. The Bird Man tried to help the child, but he was restrained as she was taken to the front of the crowd and forced to drink a potion. _

“I don’t understand, Doctor -- are you saying she’s you?” Ian asked incredulously.

“Yes, that is exactly what I’m saying my boy,” he agreed, but shook his hand as if to shoo away any further questions. “And these must be her companions. Good to see I’m not travelling alone. Might have tried to kick you two out a few times, but I must admit I’m starting to enjoy having company.”

“You won’t have any company if we can’t get back to you,” Ian frowned, “Do you have a plan?”

“Yes, of course I do!” the Doctor huffed, offended at the notion that he wouldn’t. “I’m getting it all set up as we speak. You are going to have to step out of the ship and into the Vortex.”

“What!?” Barbara couldn’t help but shout.

“It’s just for a moment,” the Doctor shrugged, not understanding why she would be so worried about it. “You will step into it and then you should land in my ship. You probably won’t even notice that you’re out there.”

“I don’t like the ‘should,’” Ian said with a raised brow, “I’d rather not step out and risk asphyxiation!”

“Pshaw,” the Doctor shook his hand, “Susan knows what she’s doing -- just hold her hand and you will be fine.” A pause. “Where is she?”

“She’s with the- you.”

“Oh, stupid child!” he shouted, alarmed, “Does she not realize the paradoxes she’s risking?”

_ The potion worked quickly. Feathers began to sprout out of her skin, covering her arms and legs. Her nose and lips painfully elongated until they clamped together as a beak. Her sandals fell apart as her feet became talons. “Now you really are no better than him!” the man sneered and everyone laughed. They went to kill the girl, but the Bird Man shook free from his captives and rescued her. Together they retreated from the city, running much farther than they had ever been before. _

_ Although the Bird Man was very angry at what they had done to the child, he did not retreat and sulk in a cave. The girl was sad, but she also told him about how excited she was that they would live together, and he realized that he was not alone -- and never would be again. Together, the girl and the Bird Man set up a home at the very edge of Gallifrey, and opened it up to everyone and everything that was mistreated and feared. Rather than the monsters that Gallifreyans tried to make them out to be, the Bird Man and the Bird Girl became symbols of hope, known all across Gallifrey. _

Susan smiled as the Doctor concluded the story, and did not open her eyes for several moments. Together they sat in silence, the Doctor continuing to play with her hair.

“I missed you,” the Doctor said finally.

“I know,” Susan replied. She could see the future -- a future she shouldn’t know about. A future she should experience for herself. “Is Gallifrey really gone?”

“Yes.” The Doctor wasn’t sure why she was answering so readily, but she couldn’t bring herself to lie. “A lot of… so much stuff has happened since we travelled together.”

“There’s a war,” Susan stated, and she did not realize that she was trembling, “And I fight in it. I don’t- I’m scared, Grandfather.” Suddenly, pain flared in her head and she couldn’t help but try to pull away from the Doctor, but the Doctor held her tight. There were tears in her eyes. She couldn’t even bear to look at her granddaughter, instead staring at the wall.

“Please don’t leave me, Susan.”

“I have to. We have to… get back…” She spoke through clenched teeth. “It’s… too much!”

Just then, the TARDIS’s other occupants barged into the room. Before the Doctor could do anything about it, Ian had ripped Susan away from her. Susan clung to Barbara as Yaz ran over to the Doctor.

“I’m sorry,” she said, putting a hand on her shoulder both to comfort her but also to stop her from trying to approach Susan, “The guy said if you’re around each other too long it’ll rip the space-time fabric… or something.”

The Doctor shook her head and blinked. To Yaz’s surprise, a smile curled at the corner of her lips. “Let me guess -- this guy was me? Long white hair,  _ super  _ old.”

“Um, yeah,” Ryan answered.

“We know how to get them all back,” Graham said. Ian was already guiding Susan back to the console room. The Doctor, Yaz, Ryan, and Graham followed them after a moment. The Doctor took up the rear, and as soon as her friends’ backs were turned to her, her smile dropped. She wiped away a tear with the sleeve of her shirt, hoping it had not been seen.

Barbara, Ian, and Susan were already standing at the open doors when the others filed into the room. Outside the TARDIS almost appeared to simply be outer space, but there was a sort of swirling about it. Susan was explaining to Ian and Barbara that she wouldn’t remember what happened and that they shouldn’t try to remind her once they were back in their own TARDIS.

“Are you okay?” Yaz asked. She slid her hand into the Doctor’s, who lightly squeezed it.

“Yes, I’m fine,” she lied.

The time travellers all exchanged their goodbyes as Barbara, Ian, and Susan approached the doors.

“It was very nice meeting you,” Barbara waved at Yaz and Ryan, who waved back cheerfully.

“Perhaps we’ll meet again, under less… stressful conditions,” Ian smiled.

“I didn’t die.” Susan spoke frantically, eyes darting back and forth as memories that were yet to happen flashed through her mind. “I didn’t die. I made it out. You can find me.”

The Doctor pushed through her friends to grab Susan -- to stop her from leaving without explanation, but before she could do so, they were gone. First into the vortex, then into the TARDIS.

When the Doctor turned away from the door, tears were rolling down her cheeks, but they weren’t from sadness. A grin split her face from ear to ear and she laughed excitedly -- almost maniacally -- before dashing over to the controls.

Susan didn’t die in the Time War. She didn’t die in the Master’s destruction of Gallifrey. She was out there somewhere.

The Doctor would find her. No matter what, she would find her.

“How are you feeling, Chesterton?”

“Fine, just a bit of a headache.”

Sitting in a large and comfortable chair, Ian pressed his palm to his forehead. Barbara had gone to grab some food from the food machine, which meant Susan was occupying the other chair. She was unconscious, and the Doctor was tending to her.

As she blinked awake, Susan seemed startled for a moment before the Doctor came into focus. “Grandfather!” she smiled, “Oh, I’ve just had the most bizarre dream.”

“You always let your imagination run away with you, child” he replied, but he patted her head gently.

“I know,” she laughed, then she held his hand. “Do you think you could tell me the story of the Bird Man again, Grandfather? I really want to hear it.”

The Doctor wasn’t expecting the request, but after a moment he nodded. “Yes, yes, of course. Let me see if I remember it correctly.” As Ian left the room to join Barbara, the Doctor pulled the chair closer and sat in it next to Susan. “A long time ago, in a cave somewhere in the foothills of Gallifrey’s Drylands, lived the Bird Man…”


End file.
